Day Five – Art Goes It Alone

Day five of the Journey began today, the most difficult day so far. Jay felt he couldn’t do it. He knew he couldn’t. Art had to go it alone. He rode up Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains. This pass carries Interstate 90 across Washington. Although lower in elevation than most other east-to-west routes, it is an important throughway. At the summit, it is only 3,022 feet above sea level. Art started at sea level, and with each trip up a hill, it adds elevation. He thinks it was 4,793 feet.

Art rode mostly trails. He took the Tolt Pipeline Trail, which was gravel and an awful trail. It’s mostly hills at around twelve degrees. Exhausting, to say the least! Here are some pictures he took of his route:

This is the Tolt Pipeline Trail. The actual trail is to the left, but it’s in such bad shape that bikers have made a better one, now also filled with rocks and gravel:

Another shot of Tolt Pipeline, the trail filled with gravel:

Imagine riding your bike on this trail! Crazy:

Once he hit the Snoqualmie Trail, though, it was only gravel here and there. He said it was smooth sailing. Clearly, it’s in better shape because of its location. The ramp to the left is for cars to use. The bike trail, in this instance, was way better. The improved trail was because it went through town.

As you continue on, it is a little more secluded:

Along this nice trail, he saw these trains that were dilapidated and appeared to be rusted onto the tracks:

At the end of Snoqualmie, he had to take the Iron Horse Trail, which was the worst of all of them. It was so rocky and bad, he thought his teeth would rattle out of his head! And by this time, he was so exhausted, he didn’t care to take any pictures. We’ll just have to imagine how bad it was for him.

Despite all of this, he managed a total of sixty-three miles. And let me tell you, he was beat when he walked in tonight. Part of the problem was getting off the trail to a road where Jay could pick him up. So, feeling completely used up, he had no choice but to push on until he could do so.

We’re proud of how well he did on this most difficult part of this journey.

Next up: Day Six and An Interesting First Nations Man I Met Several Days Ago